Survivor will take some of the lessons learned from the success of its past two seasons and combine them for its next installment, Survivor: San Juan del Sur — Blood vs. Water, which will be filmed in Nicaragua and premiere on CBS in September. Not only do we have the brand new logo for season 29 for you above, but host Jeff Probst shared some early intel with EW on what to expect.

The Blood vs. Water concept first debuted in season 27 when 10 former players returned, each bringing a loved one to compete with/against. But instead of returning players, this new Blood vs. Water cast will feature pairs of all new contestants. Jeff Probst credits the fans for pushing the show to bring back all new players for the Cagayan season that just wrapped up, and the success of that installment gave producers the confidence to do it again. “We really listened to people saying, ‘Oh my gosh, we love new players again. This is so fresh and it feels so good,’” says the host. “And we went down the road with a couple of different ways to do Blood vs. Water, and we started casting it, and started finding really good people, and then more good people, and then it became a very easy decision to go with a completely new cast. “

Of course, with returning players that viewers were already familiar with, it was easy to make the Blood vs. Water connection in terms of who was whose sibling or spouse. Putting all new players in the mix means the show will have to work a bit harder to establish those connections for viewers. “Since it is all new people you need to find a way to bond them quickly so that the audience knows, ‘Oh, okay, that’s the father and that’s the son,’’ says Probst. “And we do have something out of the gate that will help with that a little bit. We just have to do a very good job in how we tell those stories, when you cut from one person on one beach, then cut to their significant other on the other beach. And you just slowly start pairing them together. I’m not really concerned about it. Also, looking at the group we have, I would bet that if we lined them up randomly, the average person could probably get 60 to 70 percent just based on looking at them.”

The return of the Blood vs. Water twist also means the return of Redemption Island, which Probst had previously told EW would probably only return for Blood vs. Water seasons. “Yes, Redemption Island is back,” says Probst. “And there wasn’t even a consideration to not bring it back because so much of our drama came from that explosive energy at Redemption Island when the tribes were already there and then the competitors walk in and it’s the first moment that the other tribe gets to see who was voted out and then you have a loved one going, ‘Oh, man, it was my wife! Are you kidding me? Who did that?’ And I think that was really the cornerstone for a lot of story that came from it.”

However Probst does note that there will be a change to the way the contests take place there. “We have another twist that’s going to happen regarding duels at Redemption Island, a little different from last year, so I’m curious to see how that plays out and if we can get some story from that.” (Could that mean a return back to two person duels as opposed to three person contests, or something else entirely?)

The show will be returning for seasons 29 and 30 to Nicaragua, the same location for the filming of two previous installments (Nicaragua and Redemption Island), and Probst says his team has a plan in place to combat one of the negatives from their previous experience there — a lack of suitable locations for water challenges. “That was the mandate from the moment we decided on Nicaragua,” says Probst. “The one thing I kept asking our scouting crew for was updates on how the water situation was looking, and between our art department and our challenge department, they’ve got it under control. We’re going to have a lot more water challenges and be in the water more —and really that’s the only concern we had about Nicaragua, is that it was a little dry last time.”In general, Probst is confident that Survivor can continue its recent hot streak (the past four seasons all rank in top 10 of all-time). “We have not shot a single second of the show,” says the host, “but I feel really good going in that we have another very good group of people.”

Well I don't like RI, I don't like the BvW idea and I don't like the location... having said that BvW was the season I was least excited for going into it and it turned out great, so who knows?

Logged

1. Don't pick up the phone - You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone.2. Don't let him in - You have to kick him out again.3. Don't be his friend - You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning.And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him. ♥

In theory, Redemption Island is actually an incredible twist. But in practice, it is an epic failure - we get no Reward Challenges, which the RI Duel does not really compensate for in my opinion, we get time taken away from the main game and we miss out on things like the Survivor Auction or the Rites of Passage (not that Cagayan had the latter in any case).

Logged

1. Don't pick up the phone - You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone.2. Don't let him in - You have to kick him out again.3. Don't be his friend - You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning.And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him. ♥

I am pretty new to Survivor--I have only been watching since Cochran won and I watched most of the first season with Richard Hatch (hey, there's someone to bring back! )

I think the Redemption Island concept gives players a chance to get back to the game and shake some things up. I do wish though that they wouldn't take away the reward challenges because they are great.

I can live with Redemption Island if they would only have it in play until the merge. I'm not happy with people getting voted off after the merge, some for a second time, and having a chance to get back into the game at F5.

I can live with Redemption Island if they would only have it in play until the merge. I'm not happy with people getting voted off after the merge, some for a second time, and having a chance to get back into the game at F5.

I can live with Redemption Island if they would only have it in play until the merge. I'm not happy with people getting voted off after the merge, some for a second time, and having a chance to get back into the game at F5.

I actually want them to get rid of RI after the merge, period. BvW's Redemption Island, IMO, was very very exciting and great pre-merge. Post merge, it became a massive waste of time.

Logged

"But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of timeHoney, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the timeI've got a list of names and yours is in red, underlinedI check it once, then I check it twice (oh)"

1. Don't pick up the phone - You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone.2. Don't let him in - You have to kick him out again.3. Don't be his friend - You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning.And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him. ♥

'Survivor' scoop: Two contestants left show before filming began in Nicaragua

The 29th season of CBS’ Survivor has begun filming in Nicaragua, and host Jeff Probst says that two contestants left the show 48 hours before the competition began for medical reasons.

“We just lost two contestants [Friday],” Probst tells EW’s Dalton Ross, who’s hosting EW Morning Live with Jessica Shaw from the set of Survivor: San Juan del Sur — Blood vs. Water all week on Entertainment Weekly Radio. “We came out here with 20. We spend months casting our show — months. I mean, this is like….who you’re gonna ask to prom. All year you’re like, ‘Is it her or her?’ and ‘Will she say yes?’ And you finally get your 20 people, and then through no fault of their own — just a medical situation — they can’t play…. So instead of 20, it puts us at 18. Instead of equal men and women, it puts us uneven men and women.”Listen to Probst explain why the show must go on in the clip below. Bonus: You’ll also hear a Survivor helicopter pass overhead.

Pfffffff they could have definitely used a two-hour premiere for a BvW season.... Not Cagayan style, rather showing one long episode and introducing the pairs to the viewers better. I really think that would've been a great decision

With the premiere of Survivor's 29th season just over a month away, the show's editors are demanding a union contract, which may halt the season's episode production.

About two dozen of the reality show's editors are reportedly demanding a contract, according to a new report by Deadline. The contract would include industry-standard health insurance as well as pension benefits.

With this demand out in the open, it may halt post-production as Survivor enters its 29th season, titled Survivor: San Juan del Sur. In fact, the 90-minute premiere is not even finished yet, editing-wise.

"The premiere episode isn't even done yet," a source close to the incident told Deadline. "With the plan of a 90-minute opener and the team still going through footage, any delay of more than a few days would be very hard on the schedule."

Survivor: San Juan del Sur is set to begin airing on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m. on CBS, airing a special 90-minute premiere leading into the 90-minute finale of Big Brother 16.

The Motion Picture Editors Guild is representing the editors in the case, telling longtime reality producer Mark Burnett and his company Island Post Productions on Tuesday about the demands. Per Deadline, the plan is reportedly to allow Burnett and company to respond to the demand first.

As noted by the publication, several members of the editing staff have been nominated for this year's Emmys in the category of Outstanding Picture Editing for Reality Programming.

1. The post-production staff and editors, who aren't under a union contract, have gone on strike as of this morning (Wednesday) and the expanded premiere episode (90 minutes) announced last week along with the shift of the Big Brother finale as 90 minutes on the same night, has not been completed.http://deadline.com/2014/08/survivor-strike-mark-burnett-editors-cbs-reality-show-818767/2. As referenced in 1, the premiere is now 90 minutes, as CBS moved the final episodes of Extant out of premiere week, as well as the September sweeps period.